Introduction: Desegregation
Introduction
Throughout U.S. history, communities of color fought for their right to equal access and for human dignity and equity. Desegregation in public schools, transportation, and other accommodations was more than court cases and legal victories. Desegregation was a long struggle led by students, parents, and every day citizens who experienced or saw the injustice of American segregation. Faced by indignities and violence, students and parents maintained the courage to fight for the rights of first class citizenship. They were not interested in integration, or the desire to mingle socially or otherwise with whites, but to break and reconstruct institutions that forced people of color into positions of poverty, illiteracy, and political powerlessness.
March on Washington Hidden History Quiz
Quiz by Teaching for Change
Students are often taught the simplistic narrative that Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in Montgomery, the buses were desegregated, and the Civil Rights Movement was launched. This quiz helps surface and challenge many of the myths about the boycott.
Comfort Food: A Lesson for Child of the Civil Rights Movement
Lesson by Paula Young Shelton
Food played an instrumental role during the Civil Rights Movement, bringing people together to plan, gain strength, and organize. Community members played an important role feeding volunteers. This lesson is a companion to the picture book, Child of the Civil Rights Movement.
Transportation Protests: 1841 to 1992
Reading by Julian Hipkins III and David Busch
The struggle for the desegregation of transportation has a long history in the United States. This timeline outlines some key individuals and organizations who took a stand against segregated transit.
Sit Down Marie!: Eugenia Fortes at the Hyannis Port Beach
Teaching Reflection by Maggie Donovan
Students react to a story about two young African-American girls who refused to move to the colored section of the Massachusetts beach.
The Role of Freedom Songs
Reading by SNCC Digital Gateway
One cannot understand the history of the Civil Rights Movement absent the role of freedom songs. Here is a description of their importance from the SNCC Digital Gateway, followed by the song “If You Miss Me from the Back of the Bus.”
Sit-Ins: A Desegregation Role Play
Lesson by Chris Hoeh
A role play lesson for second grade on sit-ins.
Montgomery Bus Boycott: Organizing Strategies and Challenges
Teaching Activity by Alana D. Murray
In this activity for middle and high school, students act as organizers and learn about many of the challenges faced by the group who sustained the Montgomery Bus Boycott for 381 days.
Soul Power and the People
Reading by Jenice L. View
Essay recalling memories of school desegregation in 1968 Washington, D.C.
A School Year Like No Other, Eyes on the Prize: “Fighting Back: 1957-1962”
Lesson by Bill Bigelow
Students write poetry or prose in reaction to viewing "Eyes on the Prize: Fighting Back 1957-62" and two readings.
Gallery Walk on the History of Education in Mississippi Through the Lens of Race
Lesson by Julian Hipkins III and Deborah Menkart
Using textbook excerpts, data, quotes, legislation, and images, this gallery walk begins pre-Mississippi in the ancient city of Timbuktu, moves through Reconstruction and Jim Crow, and carries on to present day issues.
Warriors Don’t Cry: Connecting History, Literature, and Our Lives
Lesson by Linda Christensen
A unit designed to help students practice behaving as allies. Students read Warriors Don’t Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock’s Senior High, then create and act out scenes from their own experiences where people act as allies, victims, perpetrators, and witnesses.
Teaching About Brown v. Board
Reading by Teaching for Change
Too often marked as the launch of the Civil Rights Movement, it is important to teach about the Supreme Court ruling in the context of the decades long struggle by people across the United States. Here are some lessons, books, films, and articles that can be used to teach about Brown v. Board in grades 4-12.
Teaching the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Reading by Teaching for Change
Students learn that Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in Montgomery, the buses were desegregated, and the Civil Rights Movement was launched. The disconnect between Parks’ arrest and the 381-day boycott creates the illusion that it was a spontaneous response to her civil disobedience. This, however, discounts the strategic brilliance and courage of the African American community in Montgomery.
Desegregation Court Cases Before and After Brown v. Board of Education
Reading from the Brown Foundation or Educational Equity, Excellence, and Research with additions from Teaching for Change
Selected school desegregation court cases before and after Brown v. Board of Education 1849-1969.
Children's March History Dilemma
Lesson by Chris Seeger
In this lesson, students consider whether they would join fellow Black students in protest in 1963 Birmingham, Alabama, even if they are guaranteed to be arrested?
Teaching Segregation and Inequality in Housing and Education
Reading by Emilye Crosby
In recent years, there has been an outpouring of wonderful work documenting the structural basis of housing and educational segregation and inequality. This list of materials supplements the resources provided as part of Emilye Crosby’s “A Documents-Based Lesson on the Voting Rights Act: A Case Study of SNCC’s Work in Lowndes County and the Emergence of Black Power.”